Search This Blog

NPR's Top 100 SF/F Books

Because I can never resist a list, here is NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy books, as determined by a readers' poll this summer. I thought I'd mark the ones I've read before. Just for fun, not because I'm competitive or anything.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien - read
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams - read
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card - read
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert - read - actually, just Dune.
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin - read the first two books.
6. 1984, by George Orwell - read
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov - read
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman - read
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman - read
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan - avoided completely
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore - read
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov - read
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein - read
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss - read the first one, The Name of the Wind
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King - read the first book
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke - read
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury - read
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut - read
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein - read
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams - read
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey - read
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein - read
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells - read
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys - read
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells - read
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings - read
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - started and abandoned, long ago
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven - read
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin - read
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White - read
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan - read
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons - read
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle - read
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson - read and detested the first book
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold - read
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke - read
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist - read
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks - read the first book
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard - forsooth! I've read them
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger - read
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore - read (and surprised they made the list)
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi - read
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson - read
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire - read
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde - read
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart - I may have read this in high school...
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn - read
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock - read
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley - read
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville - read
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony - read
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

So, 48/100 (giving myself credit for books in a series, but not for not completing a book).